An Era's End and a New Season

An Ode to the End of an Era

By Josh Watkins

An ode to the years of school K through 12,

To all the days dreaming about summer,

To the field trips, class parties, and guest speakers.

To the teachers who put up with us day after day,

To hearing that stupid saying "Every period Every Day."

To the lunch period and all it's laughs, jokes, and oddities,

To cafeteria food, take it or leave it.

To walking, driving, taking the school and city bus,

To projects, papers, tests, that are now just ashes and dust.

To staying up till 3 and waking up at 6,

To sports events and assemblies.

To being free over the summer year after year,

To share the laughs, joys, cries and tears.

To the beach, the sun, the jetski, boy is it fast,

To playing B-ball, disk, and reliving the past.

To spending countless nights gaming till the dawn,

To not letting loose a blink, droop, or yawn.

To wandering L-Wood and experiencing all it has to offer,

To showing off and chilling out like a king,

To jamming with our music and letting our voices ring.

To wasting a beautiful summer day watching countless movies,

To arriving at the last minute for Sunday meetings.

To stuffing our faces with Chipotle, Mickey D's, and Taco Bell,

To sleeping all day, even after our parent's yell.

To the many places we have ventured,

To the dreams we have followed,

To the friends we have made,

To the memories that will never fade.

To lives that we live,

To traits that we share.

May our friendships never end,

May our hearts mend,

And to our future shall we end.

Here's to senior year and all the great times we had. Let us make many many more!

Warriors of White

By Josh Watkins

High above the earth,

cloaked in great white ships,

Lies a dormant army

with strength that numbers cannot even derive.

They bide their time, calculating the exact moment,

to unleash their troves of fury upon the earth below.

When the time is set and all is right,

The warriors of white ready their charge.

The earth lies silent, anticipating the assault

upon its surface.

The great white flagships fling open their holds,

And in the blink of an eye,

Billions upon billions of warriors

descend upon the earth,

forming their ranks and mounting their attack.

Their battle formations are a brilliant sight to behold,

Clothed with a sea of crystals,

each unique and appealing to the eyes.

Their ability to ride the wind is impeccable.

They may seem harmless,

but wait until one sails into your stare,

Its frozen power temporarily blinds you,

causing you to tread unsteadily upon his companions

beneath your feet.

Crushing them is a mistake enacted by many,

Packed together, they become hard and painful.

These warriors of white can wipe out vegetation,

take down the mightiest beast,

and throw man-made machines into chaos.

Yet, they are one of the most breath-taking delights nature has to behold.

They have no flavor,

But my tongue tingles every time they touch its tip.

My mind reels into confusion,

Wondering what to make of this obscure concoction.

Before the sensation can be comprehended,

It vanishes in an instant,

Leaving a curious intention inside my being.

I try to catch them, enslave them in my grasp,

But as soon as they are captured in my finger-prison,

They render themselves invisible and escape my hold.

I fall to my back and lie in their cool wake,

Tingling and twitching as they trod upon my face.

As cruel as they sometimes may seem,

 They have a gift unmatched, uncontested.

Before they arrive, the trees shed their coats,

And begin a long slumber.

These once beautiful masterpieces of nature,

Have now been rendered naked and ugly.

The warriors of white perch themselves upon the trees’ arms,

Clothing them in a magnificent array of beauty.

I stand up to a wavering position,

And gaze once more upon the blanketed land.

When I give my eyes slumber tonight,

I shall dream about the warriors of white.

For the first time ever...a double post where both posts have absolutely nothing in common! However, they both hold their own. The first one I penned as a bittersweet feeling (mostly sweet) of graduating high school and ending required education. The second is the third installment of my "Seasons" series. 

The Ode I wrote in a matter of minutes, was jubilant with each line I wrote, and it was the last piece of my high school career (obviously). In high school, they had a motto that said "Every Period, Every Day." It meant be committed, be at every class, be on time, be involved, etc. Not that these are a bad thing, but to have that saying shoved down our throats literally every period, every day, one can come to easily loathe it. The line about projects and papers becoming dust...yeah every summer all those that we saved got lit on fire and consumed completely. The last nine lines I put a lot of heart into and are my favorite, but you'll have your own opinions.

The second piece I wanted to really capture the beauty of a snowfall. So I envisioned the snow flakes almost as how their Maker created them and I gave them warrior personalities. This piece also marks a point where I started taking a lot of critiques and honing my writing skills. I took my time with this piece, because I wanted it to be perfect. I'm going to let this piece speak for itself.

Note: If you noticed, the style I was working on in my recent works involved running thoughts into the next lines without capitalization, creating pauses, trying to give a calm feel. I enjoy doing this and it has been too long to keep these pieces from the world.